The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) applauds the 47 senators who voted Tuesday to require the State Department to report on the killings of Americans in the West Bank. Since 2022, at least nine U.S. citizens have been killed by Israeli settlers or security forces, including Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, 78-year-old Omar Assad, and American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi. Not one of these killings has resulted in meaningful accountability or justice from the Israeli or U.S. government. Their families have waited years for answers.
The resolution, led by Senator Chris Van Hollen (MD), would have required the State Department to report to Congress within 30 days on the circumstances surrounding each killing, the Israeli security forces or settlers implicated, whether U.S. assistance was used in connection with the killings, and the status of Israeli and U.S. investigations. It also called for an assessment of broader human rights conditions in the West Bank, including the detention of Palestinian children.
FCNL led a coalition letter signed by more than 30 national organizations urging senators to support the resolution.
Although the resolution did not receive the votes needed to advance, 47 senators voting for accountability marks an important shift in Congress. In January 2024, a similar resolution received just 11 votes. The vote comes as violence in the West Bank continues to escalate. The United Nations has documented more than 1,400 settler attacks in the West Bank this year, already surpassing the previous annual record.
“Families of Americans killed in the West Bank have waited long enough for answers,” said FCNL General Secretary Bridget Moix. “The U.S. government should not look away when its own citizens are killed, especially when US-supplied weapons could be involved. And if accountability is so difficult to secure when an American is killed, just imagine what that means for Palestinians living under occupation, who face violence and rights violations with far less access to justice.”
“Congress has a responsibility to ask hard questions about how U.S. assistance is being used and whether U.S. laws are being upheld,” said Hassan El-Tayyab, FCNL’s legislative director for Middle East policy. “We are grateful to Senator Van Hollen and every one of the 47 senators who voted for transparency and accountability.”
Section 502B(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act gives Congress a mechanism to demand information about human rights conditions in countries receiving U.S. security assistance. Tuesday’s vote put Senators on the record on whether Congress should exercise that oversight when Americans are killed in aid-recipient countries and meaningful investigations have not followed.
FCNL will continue working with members of Congress and its coalition partners to press for accountability for Americans, Palestinians, and all civilians impacted by the continuing wars in the Middle East, as well as for a U.S. foreign policy that advances peace while upholding human rights and international law.